Stanley Burnshaw:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center

The papers of American
poet and literary critic Stanley Burnshaw primarily consist of notes, outlines,
research materials, and drafts associated with his numerous literary pursuits.
A quantity of correspondence is also present containing often detailed
exchanges between Burnshaw and other writers, editors, publishers, scholars,
and critics.

RLIN Record #:

TXRC93-A78

Extent:

29 document cases, 1
oversize box, 14 galley folders (24 linear feet)

Language:

English.

Repository:

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
University of Texas at Austin

Stanley Burnshaw, born in New York City on June 20, 1906, is a poet,
critic, novelist, playwright, publisher, editor, translator, and scholar
recognized primarily for his poetry and literary criticism. Burnshaw is
probably best known as the author of
The Seamless Web (1970), a study of the
ontology of poetry and an analysis of its role in human life. Burnshaw's father
served as the director of a home for Jewish orphans that attracted nationwide
attention and a visit from President Taft. Both of his parents had immigrated
to the United States from eastern Europe. Burnshaw movingly tells his father's
story in
"My Friend, My Father," Book III of
The Refusers (1981). This is the best
source for information on Burnshaw's early life, presented through the eyes of
his father.
My Friend, My Father was published as a
paperback in 1986 by Oxford University Press. Burnshaw's mother's flight is
recounted in his poem
"House in St. Petersburg" (collected in
Caged in an Animal's Mind, 1963).

Burnshaw enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in 1922, transferred
to Columbia University in 1924, and transferred back to the University of
Pittsburgh, where he earned his B.A. in 1925. He had planned a career as a
teacher and writer; however, he took a job as an advertising copywriter with
the Blaw-Knox Steel Corporation in Blawnox, Pennsylvania, to support himself
and to save the money for a year of graduate study in Europe. During this
period Burnshaw wrote poetry, some of which was published in little magazines,
such as the
Midland, Voices, and in volume one of
The American Caravan (1927), an
influential anthology of avant-garde writing edited by Van Wyck Brooks, Alfred
Kreymborg, Lewis Mumford, and Paul Rosenfeld. Burnshaw started his own
magazine,
Poetry Folio, in 1926, setting the type
himself. During the late Depression era, Burnshaw's poetry and literary
criticism reflected Marxist ideas; however, his political works never reflected
a doctrinaire rigidity--merely a desire to better the lot of those most
degraded by poverty and industrialism by portraying them honestly.

In 1927 Burnshaw went to Europe to study at the University of Poitiers
and later at the Sorbonne. During this period he met and began a long
association with the French poet André Spire--his
André Spire and His Poetry
appeared in 1933. The essays and translations in this book reveal
Burnshaw's knowledge of European literature and languages as well as Spire's
influence on Burnshaw. In 1928 Burnshaw returned to America and worked as the
advertising manager for the Hecht Company in New York and continued his
graduate studies at New York University. During this time he also wrote some
free-lance literary criticism. In 1932, he resigned from the Hecht Company to
begin a year's post-graduate work at Cornell University, from which he
graduated with a Master's Degree in 1933.

From January 1934 until July 1936, Burnshaw was co-editor, drama
critic, and occasional book reviewer for the New York weekly
The New Masses. Burnshaw's writings
continued to focus on social injustice throughout the 1930s. Two works that
exemplify his thematic focus during this period are
The Iron Land (1936), which depicts
poetically the lives of steel mill workers, and the verse play
The Bridge (1945), which explores the
consequences of technology distorted by greed. During the late 1930s Burnshaw
became increasingly involved in publishing, first as editor-in-chief for the
Cordon Company in New York, then as president and editor-in-chief of his own
firm, the Dryden Press, which merged with Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1958.
He remained a vice-president and consultant to the house until 1968.

The Revolt of the Cats in Paradise (1945),
a satiric, book-length poem, marks his rejection of Marxism as a solution to
socio-economic problems. He lectured on Studies in World Literature at New York
University's Graduate School of Book Publishing from 1958-1962. During this
period, his work reflected a scholarly frame of reference rather than a
political agenda; however, he remained politically active and aware of
political issues. In 1960 he edited
The Poem Itself, a book that imparts an
understanding of modern poems in other languages without recreating the poem in
English verse; instead, the poems are translated literally and accompanied by
an analytical essay that explicates the nuances, idioms, and allusions unique
to each work.
The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself (1965) uses
the same format (literal translation accompanied by an essay) to explicate
Hebrew poems for English language readers. He also edited
Varieties of Literary Experience (1962),
an anthology of literary essays including his own
"The Three Revolutions in Modern
Poetry." His next collection of poetry,
In the Terrified Radiance (1972), includes
"The Hero of Silence," a sequence of
poems on the life of Mallarmé.
The Hero of Silence was originally
published in 1965 in
The Lugano Review and subsequently issued
as a pamphlet.
Mirages (1977), is a collection of poems
dealing with modern Israel. It was later included as an epilogue to
The Refusers (1981).

Stanley Burnshaw now divides his time between New York and his home in
Martha's Vineyard. He received an award for creative writing from the National
Institute of Arts and Letters in 1971, and in 1983 he was awarded an honorary
doctor of humane letters degree by Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of
Religion. The distinguished London poetry magazine
Agenda honored him with a
" Special Stanley Burnshaw Issue" with
the Winter-Spring 1983-84 issue. In 1986, he published a biography of Robert
Frost entitled
Robert Frost Himself. The Stanley Burnshaw Reader (1989),
provides an excellent overview of his work in poetry, translation, literary
criticism, and biography. Three weeks before his ninetieth birthday, the City
University of New York awarded him an honorary doctor of letters degree.

Burnshaw's post-1945 poetry, translations, and criticism are
particularly well represented in this collection. Extensive files are present
for
The Poem Itself (1960),
Robert Frost Himself (1986), and
The Seamless Web (1970). Other works
represented in this collection include
Caged in an Animal's Mind, The Hero of Silence, Mirages, The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself, The Refusers, The Revolt of the Cats in Paradise, and
Varieties of Literary Experience.
Burnshaw's creative processes can be followed through the extensive
notes, correspondence, and research information he kept for each of his
projects, and the revision and refinement of his works can be traced from
typescript drafts through page proofs. His considerable input into the styling,
production, and promotion of his books is also evidenced in extensive comments
and letters to authors, editors, publishers, printers, and critics. Published
reviews and essays show the critical response to his works. Additionally,
Burnshaw's own activities as an editor and publisher (in conjunction with
projects involving Edward Dahlberg, Nahum Goldmann, David Ben-Gurion, Laura
(Riding) Jackson, Christina Stead, Lionel Trilling, and Louis Untermeyer) are
documented, as are his relationships with numerous other writers and scholars
in various intellectual fields.

The papers also contain information about Burnshaw's childhood and
family heritage in letters, notes, and papers of his father and other family
members, which were gathered as source material for
The Refusers and
My Friend, My Father. In addition there is
valuable information about his family relationships, especially with his wife
Lydia "Leda" Powsner Burnshaw and his daughter
Valerie, in both series.

Burnshaw's correspondence frequently consists of detailed exchanges
about work-in-progress with other writers, editors, publishers, scholars, and
critics. There are substantial files of correspondence, sometimes reflecting
personal relationships as well as professional ties, with such varied figures
as T. Carmi, Edward Dahlberg, James Daly, James Dickey, Dudley Fitts, Robert
Frost, Norman Fruman, Nahum Goldmann, Josephine Herbst, Laura (Riding) Jackson,
Haniel Long, John Frederick Nims, Paul Rogers, Gregor Sebba, Karl Shapiro,
André Spire, Christina Stead, Lionel Trilling, Louis Untermeyer,
Wade Van Dore, and others. A list of all correspondents in the papers can be
found at the end of this inventory.

The collection contains substantial information concerning the topics
of modern literature (especially poetry) and its practitioners, the translation
of poetry (from French, German, Hebrew, Italian, and Spanish), literary
criticism, publishing and editing (including Burnshaw's activities with the
Dryden Press and Holt, Rinehart and Winston), and the Jewish experience.

Several other collections at the HRHRC include further Burnshaw
materials: James Donald Adams, William Burford,
Contempo, Edward Dahlberg, John Gassner,
Robinson Jeffers, Willard Maas, Kenneth Patchen, and Idella Purnell Stone.

For information concerning books acquired by the HRHRC from Burnshaw's
library, see the Collections File and/or the online catalog, UTCAT.

Series I. Works,
1933-1987

The first series includes working notes, outlines, correspondence,
research material, typescript drafts, galleys, page proofs, publicity, and
reviews. Materials dealing with specific titles have been filed together and
are arranged alphabetically by title of the work. Other than arranging this
series into alphabetical order by title, every effort has been made to preserve
the original order established by Burnshaw. Long galleys and oversize page
proofs have been removed to oversize storage. These files frequently include
extensive correspondence generated during research, writing, editing, and
publication of his works, and all correspondents are included in the list of
correspondents at the end of this inventory. Mr. Burnshaw sometimes provided
explanatory notes in his files, which explain the significance or background of
various materials.

The Seamless Web (1970),
The Poem Itself (1964),
Robert Frost Himself (1986), and
The Refusers (1981) respectively
comprise the greatest bulk of the material in the series.
The Refusers material includes an
unpublished verse play entitled
Uriel da Costa that Burnshaw converted
into Book I of
The Refusers (1981) and
My Friend, My Father (1986), which
originally appeared as Book III of
The Refusers. This group also includes
copious notes about Burnshaw's early life and family background via family
notes and correspondence. It also contains clippings and notes that highlight
his interest in the impact of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and fascism on the
Jewish people in general as well as on his family specifically. Notes,
correspondence, and clippings filed with
The Seamless Web (1970) material
reveal the diversity of his interests as a scholar and critic as well as an
extensive and eclectic group of correspondence with scientists, linguists, and
psychologists. The
Robert Frost Himself files include
extensive research materials (a typescript of Wade Van Dore's book about Frost
and copies of Wade Van Dore's and Louis Untermeyer's correspondence with Frost)
and correspondence which relate to Frost's personality and friendships with
Burnshaw and many others in his circle.

Series II. General Correspondence,
1927-198722.5 boxes

This series includes correspondence which was maintained
alphabetically by the last name of the correspondent. Carbon copies of
Burnshaw's letters and responses are interfiled alphabetically with their
respective correspondents.